I recently had the opportunity to exchange emails with Alex Mendoza, Partner at Stylophane - an e-business and marketing and management firm specializing in the apparel industry.

Two things really stood out for me in our communication; an analytics tool and a very, very cool brand popularity index tool based on search volume.

Stylophane's web-based analytics tool (demo available) is being used by its clients and offers in-depth sales data to business owners in a non-technical manner. The analytics package is reasonable in price, $149 per month) and the system is robust for whom it is designed.

I was also immensely impressed by Stylophane's Apparel Brand Popularity Index – which lists and tracks over 400 fashion brands, publishing their search volume for their brand name. The industry subscribes to receiving the monthly updates to see how competitors are doing, and it is reprinted in leading apparel industry magazines. Definitely worth a look.